How important is it to employ the real estate stylist in the selling of your home?
In Australia today, home staging is practically required. Home prices are high here in the Sydney area – so high that buyers have probably been saving for years to finally be able to enter the market. It’s no wonder, then, that prospective buyers are eager to find a place that has every last thing on their wish list before they pick up a phone and call a selling agent.
Potential buyers fling wide the portals and look longingly at every possible listing they can. This means, of course, that they gaze deeply into their computer monitors and look at the endless listing pictures found there. This is the way real estate is sold in the world today. The listings they see online are perfectly appointed. The work of the real estate stylist is evident in the best looking houses for sale. And that is the reason hiring a house stylist is critical to getting the best price for the house you’re selling. The competition looks unbeatable.
If you’ve never used a home stager before you might think that the services a stager provides are similar to those of an interior designer. Not entirely. An interior design professional works to make your house look like you. The real estate stylist works to make your home look like your buyer.
The home staging industry has the job of anticipating who will buy your house and decorating and dressing it based on that particular demographic. Your house cannot look personal. It must look appealing to everybody. Your house must make the potential buyer think, “Hey. I could live there!” When you think of it, that is a tall order.
It takes years of experience and lots of research to know how to accomplish what home stagers do. And they must do this hard work on the fly – in real time. The real estate market is constantly changing. A few years ago, the biggest market demographic was the group we call baby boomers. Their idea of a lovely home is a far cry from what the new kids on the block want.
The newest and biggest section of the real estate market today is made up of millennials. These are younger people who came of age in the last 20 years and their desires where a house is concerned are far different from their parents.
Where the boomer was perfectly content to buy a fixer-upper and potter around in the garden on the weekend, the millennial wants the house he or she buys to be perfect and ready to move into today. This buyer leads an active lifestyle that probably doesn’t include the aching need to mow an enormous lawn. This group would rather be hiking or parasailing. They want a house that is hassle free.
For this reason, before you put your house on the market for sale, you need to consult with a home stager who understands today’s buyers. You need a professional who can make your house appear to be ready for whatever an active buyer demands.
A professional home stager can work magic with your home. Because stagers spend every day practising the artistry of their trade, they know all the ins and outs of making a home move-in-ready. They already know what furnishings the buyer prefers and have those same pieces available to install right away. They know what colour to paint the walls and how to arrange the bathroom to make the buyer imagine a long, leisurely soak at the end of the day. A stager can make your home speak to buyers.
The sale of your home is the biggest business transaction you’ll probably ever take part in. Your house is the biggest nest-egg you have. For as long as you’ve owned it, your house has been soaking up equity. The trick now is to successfully coax every dollar back out of the bricks and mortar. It’s trickier now than it used to be but with the help of the real estate stylist you can realise the investment you’ve made over the years.
